WA gender-pay gap the worst

UnionsWA has said that the latest figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that women in Western Australia continue to be paid far less on average than men.

UnionsWA secretary Meredith Hammat said WA continued to have the worst gender-pay gap in Australia, according to the ABS figures.

“On average, women in WA get paid $452 per week less than men in full-time work,” she said.

Average male full-time earnings in WA were $1,790 per week, whereas women averaged about $1,340.

Ms Hammat said the pay gap had broad, long-term consequenses for women.

“Women are more likely than men to have to meet family costs like the proposed Medicare co-payment as well as other costs of living that already high in WA,” she said.

“This means women are financially insecure.”

The figures showed that WA’s wage gap had lowered from 26.3 per cent last year, which UnionsWA claimed was likely to be the result of economic factors such as there being fewer men in WA in highly paid resources sector jobs.

“It becomes even worse when women have children and the pay gap persists for the rest of their lives including into retirement through less superannuation,” Ms Hammat said.

“In other states, insecure workers may lose hours or be put off altogether during tough economic times and this is most likely to affect women.”

Queensland had the second highest gender-pay gap of 23.2 per cent, with the national gap sitting much lower at 18.3 per cent.